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Me, Myself and Cancer

Jim Carrey starred in a movie a few years ago entitled, Me, Myself & Irene. Carrey plays a state trooper with a split personality assigned to escort Irene, an alleged hit and run driver.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation, feeling like you’ve got a split personality, embroiled in an internal conversation: “Well that was stupid.” “But I was doing the best I could.” “Hey you two, pipe down will ya, I’m trying to get some peace of mind here.” Yikes!

I did recently. You see, I had cancer…a mild form of skin cancer…and while I’m happy to say that it’s gone now, hopefully, never to return, I have some pretty strong opinions about the disease…and most other diseases for that matter.

The conversation I had went something like this:

Me: “I can’t believe it.”

Myself: “Can’t believe what?”

Me: “All the people who continue to die from cancer.”

Myself: “Why is this so unbelievable?”

Me: “Look at all the money that gets raised every year for cancer research. You’d think they would have found a cure by now.”

Myself: “That’s true, although there are millions of people around the world whose livelihood depends on the existence of cancer, especially the people who run drug companies.”

Cancer: “I have a purpose.”

Me: “Hmmm. I’m not sure what to make of all this?”

Myself: “Yes, I’m not surprised. Billions of dollars have been spent on cancer research in the 50 years and yet every year millions of people are newly diagnosed and almost one out of every two people diagnosed, dies from it.”